8 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DEI: Soerabaja will be attacked tomorrow. The bombardment shows very little here. It's all in Palembang! Bombardments there are now destroying troops. The AV is falling each day from a peak just over 1000 and now at 942. Bandoeng will also be attacked tomorrow.

4 Hawks fly up and get one zero flying CAP at Oosthaven for no losses. Must be the cream of remaining Dutch pilots.

CHINA: Air raids at Changteh and Sian. A small Corps is knocked around near Psingtang.

PACIFIC: Ndeni is invaded. Now at least he'll have to prep before trying for this base.

BURMA: Meiktila is attacked today. The base holds with a 1:1! The casualties are about even but he took the forts to 0. Tomorrow will be tense. More troops and supply will keep flying in.

I hadn't seen the Dutch fighters for weeks until today. Luckily it was only a zero lost. I'll start sweeping near Batavia to see if I can catch them with numbers. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUBS: Sturgeon hits a few mines at Balikpapan, which makes me very happy.

DEI: Soerabaja falls easily. Bandoeng does not. In spite of a 3:1 adjustment, forts don't fall and the base holds. Merak is taken by paras.

CHINA: Troops are really starting some subterfuge around Changsha now. I'll be 'moving' toward all three bases i the area tomorrow, but the next day might choose Henyang as the main target, as it's the one I won't actually attack. I just want to create doubt as to where this stack will go. Meanwhile on the other side of Changsha 2200AV is moving into the city.

BURMA: The Chinese Corps was too strong for the pieces I had been able to fly in to Meiktila. The base fell today in a 2:1 attack. The good thing is that the troops retreated SE on the rail line toward Toungoo. I'll run them into the woods and see if he can push me out. Supply will be critical, but it could be tough for him too if we're blocking the rail.

Chinese troops shouldn't be too tough right now, but these ones were today in Meiktila.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DEI: The final Dutch PTs are sunk near Kangean. The CAP at Oosthaven takes down one Hawk for no losses. On the ground, Bandoeng still holds. I'll keep the DA on. It should fall tomorrow.

CHINA: Major bombing at Sian. Almost 100 hits on the fields.

PI: At Bataan an xAK is hit by Vals. Interesting. I think he's resupplying Luzon with single ships. I'llpost a SCTF nearby and set Vals to 10k Naval bombing/airfield.

BURMA: Near Meiktila our LR CAP gets a shot at some Allied bombers today. We reportedly take out 7 total on the day. Torsten seems to be occasionally very reckless with his air forces, not sending in sweeps and throwing the bombers away without even escort to the chance I did not CAP. Good to remember.

At least some Dutch PTs in the war were captured by the Japanese and used against the Allies. I wonder which TTs they used?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUBS: Subs laid mines at one of the small islands South of Tokyo. Managed to somehow see them before running into them. Now cleared.

DEI: Bandoeng finally capitulated with heavy losses for the Dutch troops. On to Batavia!

He's persistently night bombing Oosthaven to kill of a mortally wounded xAP there in port. No hits so far. Only dribs and drabs of Dutch bombers, so I'll be happy for him to hit the ship rather than the oil.

CHINA: The maneuvering by the IJA is not being met by the KMT in the central China area. I'm not sure why Torsten is not reinforcing Siantang more heavily. Only 48k troops listed. One unit moved from Henyang but no more appear to be en route. That can't be more than 1k AV. I've been pulling troops back and changing direction, but I'm going to let them cross now! They should shock into Siantang in two days. About 2500AV, with a few tanks. I'll have another 2200AV in Changsha by tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

PI:I forgot to change the Val to a dive-bombing altitude, but they hit the Belerophon again, and it should sink today. Now they will be set to 20% search 10k naval/airfield.

BURMA: My troops are running for the woods. They're in reserve mode so are healing a bit. They might just make it before another attack in the clear. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 11, 42 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SS Belerophon of the Blue Funnel Line. The blockade runners I'm seeing could have sneaked from OZ, but there is constant shipping south of the Philipenes as well as established air search. I'm going to station small SCTF patrolling between the inner islands South of Luzon. There is the possibility he's stashed a few loaded ships on these islands to use later. I'll also being visiting some of these ports. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

12 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DEI: We're still trading blows at Palembang. Today his was stronger.

CHINA: Changsha and Sian get the business from the air today. Our troops are nearing Siantang and should cross tomorrow. The Chinese look to be trying to reinforce from Changsha, so if the shock doesn't go well we could get booted out quickly just after. Or, conversely, if it does go well, those troops from Changsha could be in for some hurt. The Chinese don't tend to shock well across rivers into multiple IJA divisions.

PI: Vals very quickly found another blockade runner and this time nailed it with 4 250kg bombs diving from 10k. Not bad for pilots with average experience of 42 and naval bombing in the 50s. I'm hoping I caught this trend on the front end, or the siege at Clark could be a long one.

BURMA: Our troops made it into the jungle. Hopefully this will give enough of a defensive bonus to at least hold out for a while and force him to bring reinforcements here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 12, 42 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The William Luckenbach was originally a supply ship for the US Navy named USS Rappahannock, which was built in 1913 and served in WWI. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The most important thing in the PBEM game is to have good communication with your opponent. Torsten and I have always had decent communication. He told me early on that he had certain rules for himself in putting a lot of troops in Palembang. He would only (at least in the beginning) use Dutch troops, he would turn off the refineries and he would be willing to negotiate a withdrawal instead of ruining the oil there once it appeared the base would fall. I really appreciated his openness about it all.

Once the base was invested we had more discussions and his offer for withdrawal didn't meet my criteria, so we play on without any special rules or conditions there. I am really interested in how it will turn out. I have no expectation of getting a long-term VP win in this game after losing several CVs by turn 3, so it's a good testing ground for me, and a great challenge. I'm taking it as it comes and trying to figure out as I go what the Japanese can still do without KB superiority in 42.

As for China, we also made a 'special rule' knowing that the ground system and supply rules there really inhibit Allied abilities to hold it against persistent and dedicated Japanese efforts. If I should take China and threaten the two re-spawn centers of Chungking and Chengtu, we will call a truce and he can retreat forces to a holding zone in the four central Chinese cities until 1/44. At that point, all bets are off and I can go in and take the rest if I am able.

These special considerations are I think necessary if you want to play a game that is at least somewhat historically plausible, and being a stock scenario 1 game, this is certainly in that potential range. I refuse to find players' views irritating on the subjects of balance, because a more productive route for me is to figure out how to make it balanced enough so that both players can go forward feeling good about the game and having the experience with it they are looking for. It takes some negotiation, but that is fine and usually leads to a better game all around.

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

Good points as always. I think 'irritating' was the wrong word that I used in my post.

I should have used 'perplexing'

I hear you. I think some can get too caught up in how the game 'should' be, but in reality it is an abstract, and even the parts that work well don't work perfectly.

In the beginning when the KB was being attacked by surface ships if it were a real-life situation there is no way two BBs and two CAs would sit back letting CAs and even a much slower BB put multiple shells into three fleet CVs. Those ships would have expended their ammo and sacrificed themselves to save the CVs.

In the game, the BBs didn't fire more than a few shells, and the CAs in the KB did virtually nothing but take a few hits. Meanwhile the fast CVs didn't run away, they sat and got nailed by even the much slower BB.

I could have started ranting about how the game is broken, that shouldn't happen, it should all be changed. As much as that might be true, I'd prefer to learn how it DOES actually work, and know in the future not to get my CVs into a surface battle (and conversely to try to get those of my opponent caught by surface ships).

< Message edited by obvert -- 10/1/2012 4:15:44 PM >

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

13 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Today something finally to really cheer about! The shock to Siangtan crushed the Chinese and took the city! Banzai!!!

CHINA: The shock got an 8:1 and routed the Chinese. This will make it tough for Torsten to hold any of the central Chinese bases, and I can most likely pick them off one at a time. His best bet might be to retreat to better defensive ground to set up his next LOD, but for now at least he appears to be still moving troops to Siangtan from Changsha and Henyang. If he comes to fight more I'll be happy, as my troops have virtually no disruption or fatigue. Supply will be the only issue. I'm pouring more into both Canton and Shanghai in the next few days.

At Changsha IJA troops bombarded and found that we're outnumbered, but only slightly. I'll keep bombarding to slow his movement and hopefully disable some troops before they move to Siangtan. I'll not attack here unless I can afford to move in 2:1 raw AV. I'll most likely work on Henyang first, which is better terrain for me.

DEI: A few Hawks took out one Betty near Batavia as they bombed retreating Dutch troops. Sweeps and escorts will go tomorrow. At Palembang our arty today did better, and the Allied BA was less effective. We have twice as many guns in the hex now, so should start to take control of this engagement.

PI: Bombardments at Clark result in destroyed Japanese vehicles. Still very outnumbered here, and they appear to have good supply.

BURMA: Adding to our list of blockade runners, Lilys hit an xAK near Rangoon today. It may not sink but the fires should at the least reduce its cargo.

The Coquina, or Cynthia Olsen, as she was renamed in the first months of the war. She was sunk carrying lumber from Seattle by I-26 during the war in the deep Pacific. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

14 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DEI: Oscars take care of a few Hawks near Batavia. Nells crush two lone xAKL doing sneaky things South of Java.

CHINA: The first sight of Chinese bombers in months today as 5 Hudsons try to hit our tanks near Sian. No luck.

At Siangtan our supply jumps to 5k quickly, and the Chinese are still marching toward the base. He'd have to have 5k AV to kick us out at this point. At least one and maybe two forts will be built by the time any concerted attack arrives. Looking forward to this!

BURMA: The Chinese have moved into our Forest hex in Burma. The shock will come soon no doubt. Supply is still being flown in and all units are now out of the red.

I've got two more para units preparing for a jump on Bassein soon. I'm waiting to get the transports freed from flying supply and a few more added in so that a regiment can be flown in after in 4-5 days. If I can pull that off and hold the forest hex I might be able to keep the main forces of Allied units away from Rangoon long enough to fly in troops and walk in to take it. He can't have more than 120-50 AV there now with one main force caught in Moulmein, and another trying to get my units off of the rail in the center.

CAP engaged: 1-Vl.G.IV with 75A-7 Hawk (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (3 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 3 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 9000 Time for all group planes to reach interception is 37 minutes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DEI: Walking to Palembang and Batavia. Preparing to invade Lautern.

CHINA: Troops still seem to be moving to Siangtan fro moth Henyang and Changsha. Holding my breath as bobbing hits the troops to potentially slow them and disrupt those that might shock from Changsha. It'll be interesting. Menawhile near Sian I've stopped faking movement into the city, but that 'showing' of movement seems to have led Torsten to pull back some of his troops on the gray road forming the blockade. He still has greater numbers, but if he takes out any more I could be able to DA within a few weeks once reinforcements arrive.

BURMA: The Burma troops hold! The 66th Chinese Corps attacks our fragments in the woods and only gets a 1:3 adjustment, resulting in major disablements for the Chinese. This is a fantastic result! It should mean there is time now for a little rolling of the dice.

Troops in Semarang and Soerabaja prepare to get aboard amphibious TFs bound for Burma. I've made a choice. I will attempt one landing while I have the bonus; at Rangoon! Recon shows good Allied numbers (22k) at Chittagong, and without a fully dominant KB I would feel out on a limb over there. At least I have two elite LBA zeros groups plus two Netty groups near Burma and several other IJAAF groups in range for extra CAP and strike forces should Allied CVs intercept. The KB as it stands should be able to hold it's own now against up to 3 US CVs and a British or two, but I don't want to just hold my own. If we trade, it's a loss for the IJN, especially in this game.

Still, Burma is too important, and a landing at Rangoon could create a dominant Japanese position there, potentially trapping troops at Moulmein and supporting the troops in the center. The goal would be to wreck the large Chinese units as well, leaving the mountain approaches potentially vulnerable. It's a gamble, but the benefits are valuable enough to outweigh the risk. The landings will be pushing the deadline, so I may have to go flank speed for th a last few days to get everything there. The KB and all SCTFs are moving to Singapore to begin preparations.

MALAYA: Singapore is a hub of bustling activity as hundreds of ships come together to support Operation Python. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 15, 42 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Artillery is key to this particular game. I could use some more in China for sure. I may have to think about finding cheap units to buy out from Manchuria. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

13 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Today something finally to really cheer about! The shock to Siangtan crushed the Chinese and took the city! Banzai!!!

CHINA: The shock got an 8:1 and routed the Chinese. This will make it tough for Torsten to hold any of the central Chinese bases, and I can most likely pick them off one at a time. His best bet might be to retreat to better defensive ground to set up his next LOD, but for now at least he appears to be still moving troops to Siangtan from Changsha and Henyang. If he comes to fight more I'll be happy, as my troops have virtually no disruption or fatigue. Supply will be the only issue. I'm pouring more into both Canton and Shanghai in the next few days.

Great news, and well done!! That will give him something to mull over!!

Can you divulge any information about 'Operation Python'? Or is it still a secret squirrel op?

_____________________________

Our lives may be more boring than those who lived in apocalyptic times, but being bored is greatly preferable to being prematurely dead because of some ideological fantasy.- Michael Burleigh

16 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DEI: A BA will go at Batavia tomorrow. I've got a division and a Naval Guard here. The Allied AV at Palembang continues to plummet. Although not fast enough.

CHINA: The suply situation in Siangtan is good now. About 5k of supply, forts building, and trios looking fresh and ready. He's still showing movement from Changsha and Henyang, but nothing has come into the hex yet. I'm bombing those units warily, as I haven't seen the AVG in a while and it's about time for them to jump.

PACIFIC: A bunch of construction units have arrived down here, so now I have to go on a dot base spree with a few small SNLF Coy. I'll use all fast transport for these in case the Allies get frisky.

BURMA: The troops in the woods look to be able to hold for the time. His raw AV from the big Chinese unit dropped from 410 to 324 today after the failed attack in the hex. We went from 191 to 179. If these units can build a fort, it could be a long siege here and he'll have to bring more to get the hex.

In two days I'll para-drop on Bassein if the coast is still clear. I have enough in the area now to quickly fly in a bunch of troops. In addition to the regiment that will hold the hex, I'll send a small construction unit and an AF Coy. CAP will be key here if Operation Python goes forward and needs more cover at Rangoon.

MALAYA: Stil loading troops and simultaneously taking supply from the HI and fuel from Miri. It's busy right now a Singapore. Good air cover is provided by two big Oscar groups just in case. I don't trust that Torsten's air strength is exhausted in the DEI or that even the CVs couldn't come waltzing from across Sumatra to take a shot.

I'm deciding whether to build many Rufe's this time around. They're not able to really hold their own against any but the worst Allied fighters. The only advantage to them is they can add to the KB CAP package, maybe taking the low level, and can be flown off of AVs as well. So they can be in places where they're not expected sometimes. They didn't do much for me against JockMeister, but I'll probably build a few to fly from one CS that travels with the KB, but not as many as I did before. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

17 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DEI: I lost an xAK bringing supplies to Palembang. The CD guns there are still working fine. At Batavia the BA gives enough info to see that the base should fall soon. A DA will follow now.

CHINA: A Corps from Changsha moves into Siangtan, but because the units from Henyang were only just arriving that turn, it shocks into the base against 2500 AV IJA troops. Needless to say that didn't turn out well for the Chinese. Over 400 infantry squads were destroyed. Torsten said he thought they shouldn't have shocked because the other troops from Henyang were in the hex, but maybe it is because they just moved in this turn and weren't established there. Anyway, this should lessen the likelihood of an attack on the base right now. The Chinese do outnumber us there, but not by enough, and tomorrow at least one fort will be ready.

Near Sian enough troops have moved fro mthe blockade that in about a week I should be able to begin trying to push them back. BURMA: The small group of 4Es that Torsten has in India is bombing the troops in the woods, but hasn't had much effect. Tomorrow another para-drop is set to go landing at Bassein. Looks like just a rifle battalion there.

MALAYA: Troops are embarking for Sumatra, hitting the base near Medan, then walking up there. They should land tomorrow. The KB is at Singapore refueling and taking on more zeros. I should have all groups maxed in a few days. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 17, 42 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With a big blockade still sitting in Moulmein, if I can fly in and land enough troops behind them there is the chance to catch some troops in Burma. Also, the blockade on the rail in the woods will potentially help trap some of these units if it can hold. Looking to the future, the 14th tank is still holding the rail line near Lashio, and hasn't been threatened yet. Schwebo seems to be completely empty, and if this continues to be true, this will be the next destination for paratroops. Potentially as soon as April 1. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Near Sian Torsten has moved about half of his Corps back to the city to protect against the feinted shock attack I'm threatening. I am letting these troops get neary there before I stop them, so if he does move these forces back I will let mine go in. On the roadblock hex I'm bringing in two Brigades and a regiment to give me nearly double his current raw AV. His forces are dug in and have a lot of HQs present, so this could get bloody. I think I can wear them down though.

In Siangtan the IJA troops are happily waiting. There are a few more reinforcements about to arrive, a brigade and another tank unit. In Changsha I have 2200 AV and I won't attack unless he moves most of his troops out. I might even shift one division around to Siangtan. The Changsha hex is controlled on three sides by my troops, so there is an advantage from these interior lines. I'm sure it also helps the supply flow from the central bases.

Another division is moving to Palembang, but the going is slow. Once it arrives I'll most likely split it and move in from all sides, closing the hex. His bombardments are still having an effect on my troops, but the IJA AV stays around 1000, while that of the Dutch troops falls about 20 points a day, now at around 780.

Batavia and Tilityap are still left on Java. Koepang has 6k troops and will be invaded soon. Medan is empty and we'll be walking there and beyond to Sabang. After that I'll start taking a look at North OZ, assuming I have CVs to use after Operation Python in Burma.

18 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BURMA: The para-assault at Bassein went smoothly. The Yokosuka 1st SNLF and the 2nd Raiding Rgt took the base easily. Now for the big Bassein Airlift.

DEI: Tandjoengbalai is landed. Nothing is here, so after taking the base these troops will walk up to Medan and eventually Sabang. At Batavia troops got a 1:1 and lowered forts to 2. It'll keep going tomorrow.

CHINA: Nothing new no the ground today. A few more units from Changsha made it into Siangtan, bringing the AV in Changsha to only 2280. With this good defensive terrain though no attacks yet. I would estimate the AV in Siangtan now at about 4-4.5k AV. Forts there went to level 1 and are now building rapidly.

In the air virtually the entire IJAAF in China is aimed at troops besieging Siangtan. None of them flew due to weather. Frustration. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Mar 18, 42 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10 Support troops lost from landing craft during unload of 112th Infantry Rgt Motorized Support lost in surf during unload of 15th JAAF Base Force 18 troops of a IJA Engineer Squad lost in surf during unload of 55th Engr Rgt 18 troops of a IJA Engineer Squad lost overboard during unload of 55th Engr Rgt 17 troops of a IJA Infantry Squad lost in surf during unload of 112th Infantry Rgt /2 10 Support troops lost in surf during unload of 112th Infantry Rgt /2

I'm really enjoying the paratroops this game. There seem a lot of opportunities to use them effectively to get behind enemy lines i the opening stages. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

19 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CHINA: The Chinese attacked!!

Torsten is aggressive. This is known. Today that didn't turn out well. The big stack worth almost 3900 AV with independent artillery and a ton of HQs launched a DA today at Siangtan getting a 1:3 result. The IJA had managed to raise forts to level 2, and that was not good for the KMT. Almost 500 infantry squads were destroyed outright, and another 549 disabled. Our troops lost almost 200 infantry squads disabled, but still have good supply and only moderate fatigue/disruption.

Tomorrow will not be pretty. I will SA here and the Chinese could very well have this stack decimated completely. It was good that the IJAAF bombardment also arrived in full force today. I'm sure that helped kick things off. Tomorrow I will tone that down, flying mostly Lilys to give a little extra, but I'm wary that Torsten will bring in the AVG to try to save something here.

It should be a fun day!

DEI: Batavia lost another fort, but our troops are taking some disablements. I might sit for a day to get fatigue/disruption levels down, bomb the base, and go again in two days.

BURMA: In Burma the flights have gone well into Bassein. Another three units are appearing in the base, slowly. A group of Lilys is also flying in supply to augment the transports. He's bombarding the units in the woods to little effect. About 1 squad a day is disabled.

MALAYA: We're getting close to ready here. All TFs are meeting at Singapore and tomorrow will push off toward the Burmese front.

The Chinese offensive that has already lost them over 8k infantry squads so far, is continuing to go badly, and I hope to be able to take advantage of this defeat and push forward deep into the Chinese center soon.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Chinese offensive that has already lost them over 8k infantry squads so far, is continuing to go badly, and I hope to be able to take advantage of this defeat and push forward deep into the Chinese center soon.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A great victory!!! Well done Obvert.....the Force is with you!!

_____________________________

Our lives may be more boring than those who lived in apocalyptic times, but being bored is greatly preferable to being prematurely dead because of some ideological fantasy.- Michael Burleigh

20 March 1942___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CHINA:The battle for Siangtan is finished. The IJA shock attacked today resulting in almost inconceivable Chinese losses. After the failed Chinese DA yesterday the IJA achieved a 3:1 adjustment and staggering Chinese casualties, with over 1,500 squads destroyed plus massive losses in support troops. This will surely open the door to the entire center of China. My troops are exhausted and have a lot of disabled squads after that, but will only take a day or two to rest before pushing on. It's good that a few fresh units were already on the way. All of these will direct toward Henyang and try to really put the hammer down on the shattered army that retreated there.

Torsten did move in not just the AVG, but also Hurricanes from several British fighter groups plus one other US fighter group. He did well in the skies, shooting down about 40 planes for the loss of 15 fighters. My losses were mostly Lilys, as I held back most of the Sally groups thinking something like this uber CAP might show up.

DEI: Troops will DA at Lautern tomorrow. Also again at Batavia.

BURMA: Just flying troops around, but with all of the Allied fighters in China, there are no issues with that today.

MALAYA: All forces are prepared and will move out for Operation Python tomorrow. They will gather at Geaorgetown and then move out quickly, some may even go at flank to get there before the invasion bonus has finished.

Erick, I can tell you that you are wrong about the size of the Chinese. I am at Feb 21, 1942 and I have 30,499 active Chinese rifle Squads. Plus 1096 Cavalry squads, 103 Engineers, and 2176 MMG sections. That is 33,784 AV total. So you have destroyed about 22% of his total AV at this point. Not to mention the Mortars, FA, At guns, and support.

At my last tally, after the complete annihilation of an entire Chinese army in Nanyang, 7,567 Chinese squads had been destroyed. Many of these will re-spawn in Chunking as understrength low moral low experience units.

Here are some new numbers adding what happened today.

3,008 squads destroyed since the last tally. None of these were destroyed units, so none will re-spawn, thus making these losses potentially more devastating to the Chinese effort.

ON HOLD___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After the series of Chinese moves and IJA responses in the Siangtan area, the game is on hold. Torsten is very busy right now, which is one reason. The other reason has to do with him suddenly taking a greater interest in trying to save something out of the mess that has developed in the center for him. He has insinuated in earlier correspondence that losses in China didn't really matter much to him as this was not his main focus in the game. Now it appears he's changing his mind a bit about that.

He also plans to be away soon for several weeks or longer, so I am unsure how much he will want or be able to play during that time.

All of this comes at an exciting time for me in the game. The doors are open for some serious movement in China. I feel like Burma is about to break open as well, with multiple area of attack coming into play.

I also am interested in what will happen if I attract attention from the 3 US CVs plus one British CV that I suspect are protecting approaches to India. With the KB up to 3 CV plus 4 CVL the numbers would be fairly even but the US is still flying TBD and there still might be Buffs on board as well. It would be taking a huge risk to open up to an engagement now, but if the IJN came out ahead, even losing one CV for sinking two, it could keep the game on the oceans interesting for longer. If we got lucky and took out a few without loss, then things would swing our direction again and open up a lot of possibilities.

My hunch is that he will move US CV-based planes to land, but this would work better in India than in Burma. Rangoon has constant damage on the field and is the only really good field. I'l likely hit Port Blair in the next days to reduce it's effectiveness as well, plus I'll get a bit of deeper search into the Indian ocean in a few days as well by jumping onto one of the dot base Andamans and setting up Mavis there. It does help that for the moment a bunch of British and US fighters are in central China! ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

< Message edited by obvert -- 10/6/2012 1:35:11 PM >

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

I've just done some counting. It appears that over the course of the war so far, 7,567 Chinese infantry squads have been destroyed!!! That is a lot!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the total possible for the Chinese is somewhere around 22k AV when everything is at full TOE. So even though many of these will come back, that is at this point 21.62 months of replacements!

If 17 corps were destroyed at Nanyang, then maybe at 200AV each when they come back, that would be 3400 squads of new low moral and low experience mouths to feed.

The total possible is much greater than you thought. You have destroyed a lot and you will again take out China I am sure.

I've just done some counting. It appears that over the course of the war so far, 7,567 Chinese infantry squads have been destroyed!!! That is a lot!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the total possible for the Chinese is somewhere around 22k AV when everything is at full TOE. So even though many of these will come back, that is at this point 21.62 months of replacements!

If 17 corps were destroyed at Nanyang, then maybe at 200AV each when they come back, that would be 3400 squads of new low moral and low experience mouths to feed.

The total possible is much greater than you thought. You have destroyed a lot and you will again take out China I am sure.

Yes, and thanks again for doing all of the tedious math! I'm fairly optimistic now that the center is toast. His troops in Changsha are virtually unable to help in Henyang, and can only really transit back through Changteh. That will give him a decent army on that side of things, but I can pursue and keep them from the SE areas. So the rail could be easy unless he has a big reserve in Tuyun or Kweiyang. I'd like to take the middle road though and try to beat him to Chikhiang. If I can get that base I will force him back further.

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

BACK TO ME___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After about 4 weeks of nothing, a turn arrived. Because this was begun as our 2nd game, and intended to be slower, I knew going in there could be breaks.

The difficulty now is trying to figure out what I was doing! I'll have to go back and read the AAR for a page or so. It will almost take going through every region unit by unit to see what they were up to, especially since I am in the middle of a last ditch effort to make use of the landing bonus in Burma.

An update soon when I can explain anything coherently.

_____________________________

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill